Tuesday, February 28, 2012

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29.02. (Wed) 19:45 Denmark - Russia

Denmark National Team (Getty Images)
Getty Images


 PROBABLE LINEUPS


DENMARK


SorensenJacobsen, Kjaer, Agger, Poulsen
Rommedahl, Eriksen, Krohn-DehliBendtner
RUSSIA


RyzhikovAnyukov, Berezutskiy, Ignashevich, Zhirkov
Shirokov, Denisov, Zyryanov
Dzagoev, Pavlyuchenko, Arshavin

Marten Olsen conceded earlier this week that he is not going to experiment with his line-up and will field a full-strength team on Wednesday. Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has been struggling with injuries recently, while Roma centre-half Simon Kjaer was excluded from the Giallorossi's squad for the match against Atalanta, which Luis Enrique's men lost 4-1.

This has seemingly prompted the inclusion of Ivory Coast-born Denmark international defender Jores Okore, which was announced on Sunday. The Nordsjaelland player deputised for Kjaer against Sweden and will be keen to add to his two caps for the national team.

Russia are experiencing a goalkeeping crisis as Vyacheslav Malafeev and Igor Akinfeev have been sidelined with injuries. One of Sergei Ryzhikov and Vladimir Gabulov is expected to play between the posts for Dick Advocaat's team, while Roman Pavlyuchenko returns to the squad after sitting out the friendly against Greece.

Dmitri Kombarov has been called up for the first time to the Russia national set-up, while Aleksandr Kokorin has retained his place, following his debut on November 11 last year.
DID YOU KNOW?

  • Denmark coach Morten Olsen has been in charge of the team for nearly 12 years.
  • The Red and Whites are on a five-game winning streak, and have conceded just three goals in the process.
  • The venue for the game on Wednesday, the Parken Stadium, was the stage of a fan attack on referee Herbert Fandel on June 2, 2007. The incident saw Sweden pick up an automatic 3-0 win over Denmark in the Euro 2008 qualifying stage.
  • Russia are on an unbeaten streak, which stretches over 10 games.
  • Roman Pavlyuchenko is just six goals away from equaling Vladimir Beschastnykh's tally of 26 strikes for the national team.
  • Russia were crowned European Champions in 1960 in France after beating Yugoslavia 2-1 after extra time.
Prediction
With both coaches set to field full-strength teams, a draw is certainly not out of question. Denmark and Russia have been in good form recently, and they are likely to cancel out each other on Wednesday.
Editor's Prediction
Denmark 1-1 Russia